Posted on 11/09/2006 2:29:07 PM PST by darkangel82
Mountain: Nightmare at Franklin By Tom Mountain/ Our Turn Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Emer O'Shea knew something was wrong the minute she picked up her daughter from Franklin Elementary School. The third-grader was normally very perky upon seeing her mother and new baby sister, but this time she glanced at her mother without indicating what was wrong, except to say that the school's social worker had visited the class. But Emer soon heard from another parent about what had happened in her daughter's class that day, and she was both stunned and mortified. The next day her young daughter finally opened up with a question that would baffle most parents of an 8-year-old child, "Mommy, is it possible for a man to have an operation to become a woman?"
Transgenders and transvestites. These were the topics that a staff member at Franklin School in West Newton chose to teach to a class of third-grade children. The school's social worker described to the children that some men like to dress up as women, and yes, some men even have operations to change into women.
The opportunity for this "teachable moment" - the kind that Superintendent Jeff Young likes to portray as merely responding to some child's "random questioning"- occurred when the social worker was describing various families outside of the traditional mommy-and-daddy norm and showed the class a picture of a woman with two children, asking what they saw in the picture. A child then raised his hand to tell her (are you sitting sit down for this?) that he thought the picture was of a man who had a sex change operation and was now a woman. Apparently, the child's own father was undergoing such an operation (which he/she has since completed).
(Excerpt) Read more at townonline.com ...
I saw this in an email from Mass Resistance.
From the email: As Emer described it, Mr. Young remarked that the Parental Consent Law didn't apply to this situation because, he claimed, the topic of discussion was not planned for. He concluded that it was really just "a teachable moment."
Yeah, I saw it from there too.
Third-graders were given a talk they'll never forget... It turns out the school's social worker is an activist.
This ping list is for the "other" articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles.
Newton school system general website:
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/
Franklin Elementary School website:
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schools/elementary_schools/franklin.html
julianne_toomey-kautz@newton.mec.edu 125 Derby Street
West Newton, MA 02465 617-559-9500
STATEMENT BY DAVID PARKER:
This latest incident at a Newton Elementary school is absolutely shocking and appalling. We have arrived at a time in history where school administrators are preaching the gospel of human secularism to their captive audience in the public classroom. They coercively proclaim; there are no boundaries of gender, sexual expression, or marriage to young impressionable children.
They arrogantly trespass upon parental rights and balk at any restrictions on their indoctrination. They mercilessly thrust their immoral beliefs upon innocence, implanting the seeds of depraved ideologies into young impressionable psyches. I don't know what disgusts me more; those who do this to children in our public schools or the parents who watch silently and do nothing.
David Parker's situation covered here:
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker/index.html
PS: Almost as upsetting is reaction by the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. As they seem to become more and more pro-gay in their news coverage, they seem to be less and less interested in covering these issues. We spoke to reporters at both papers and they just didn't seem interested! "We'll tell the editor about it" both papers told us. We'll see what Thursday's papers have. But it's starting to sound like another reason not to subscribe to newspapers anymore!
ping
Mine didn't work at all! It's too embarassing to talk about, but I immediately went and got new glasses the next day.............FRegards
I don't know what disgusts me more; those who do this to children in our public schools or the parents who watch silently and do nothing (David Parker)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
These parents are graduates of government school indoctrination. They are already hard boiled frogs. The rest of the frogs are still simmering in the slowing warming hot water.
"How can this monstrosity possibly be constitutional?"
The same way that the Gun Control Act of 1968 was constitutional. If the courts, the elected representatives, and by extension the people are not willing to uphold the plain wording of the Constitition, then it's just an old document in a glass case somewhere.
One of the beauties of home education is that you're taking the situation into your own hands and rendering the conduct of the bureaucracy irrelevant.
Some things just are too important to trust to others. Your children's education and moral formation for example.
Yes, but how many "David Parkers" have we heard of lately? My parents told me no one really thought O'Hare would succeed in getting prayer removed from school so there was really no resistant move against it. I am afraid that today's parents will take the defeatist attitude that this is a battle that they can't win.
"If parents do not snatch/rip/grab their children from public school, there a chance they will be facing a situation like this or even worse."
Get the Beautifuls OUT of public school! Will A and B let you help with that??
Reason 1,000,000 to do anything else but gov't skool.
"Unfortunately, homeschoolers, and even privately schooled, children are very few compared to the armies of children in government school."
I'll take quality over quantity any day. I do think that home educated children will be the leaders of tomorrow. It's something that gives me hope.
I'd also note that a lot of the value of home education is not just in the results that it produces in the children, but in the parents. Once you take responsibility for your own destiny and that of your children, it starts leading to other notions. People start asking themselves questions like: if I can educate my own kids and do a much better job, then why do I need someone to provide "X" government service when I can do that for myself?
We've all heard the saying that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Self reliance breeds more self reliance.
I have one like that too. Both a blessing and a curse! LOL
I certainly hope so. We are doing what we can to provide an excellent education for our children in addition to raising them to be leaders for tomorrow.
My wife attends homeschool conferences where at least one of the speakers asks everybody "Who is raising leaders for tomorrow?" Unfortunately, very few hands are raised. His next comment is: "You should be." I hope homeschoolers take that advice to heart and if they are not already, start raising leaders for tomorrow.
It's something that gives me hope.
Indeed!
*************
Tell me about it. It's a disgrace.
Texas is quite a state. My brother in law and his family live in Corpus Christi. I've never been, but hope to visit one of these days.
No coincidence there. As with all things homosexual in the Commonwealth over the last 4 years, this was planned in advance and sprung on unsuspecting folks, in this case, a class of 8 yr. olds!
Of course the legislature is a group of cowards who decided to duck the issue, AGAIN. So it looks as though, even though over 56% of the voters want the ability to vote on a Marriage Amendment, it ain't gonna happen.
All I can say is I'm glad our kids are almost out of school, and we're homeschooling the last one through high school, but mostly I'm glad because we're moving out of this idiotic place and back home to MS!
As a result of this particular "classroom lesson," Emer's daughter was petrified. For an 8-year-old accustomed to a child's world of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, the little girl had nightmares, and explained to her mother she was scared that her baby sister could turn into a boy.So Emer did what any normal responsible parent would do - she demanded an explanation from the principal, Cynthia Marchand. She and several other parents from this class met with the principal who, according to Emer, responded defensively and fully backed her staff member.
Moral absolutes ping!
I pung it out at comment #27 - but it sure needs plenty of BTTT!
People need to see this.
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